A Friday afternoon traffic stop and the subsequent search of a car driven by ISU men’s basketball player Marcus Jefferson were not unusual, ISU Police officials said Monday. The police search found nothing illegal, although Jefferson was upset about the officers’ hunt.

“Nothing illegal was found; [they were] free to leave,” ISU Police Capt. Gene Deisinger said.

“They tore my shit up,” Jefferson said Friday, as he picked up items moved in his car.

Deisinger said he has not received any complaints about the incident, and he said he observed no damage to the vehicle.

“I’m sure things were moved in the car,” he said. “The officers were focused, purposeful, complete and appropriate.”

At the scene Friday, Jefferson, senior in sociology, said he and Jeffrey Nieto, senior in finance, were just “hanging out” and planned to go to lunch later. Jefferson said he believed the officers treated him differently because he was a “ball player.”

The incident involved Jefferson, Nieto and a third, unidentified man. It began about 12:45 p.m. at the Southwest Athletic Complex, when a police officer approached the men as they stood outside a white Chevrolet Caprice Classic.

As the officer approached, one of the men fled on foot, and the officer began a foot chase. Jefferson, who was driving, and Nieto drove away from the complex and were pulled over on Sheldon Avenue.

The traffic stop also involved four ISU Police squad cars and several unmarked vehicles driven by officers and detectives. The cause for the stop was suspicious activity, Deisinger said. He also said Jefferson was not wearing a seat belt.

When asked if officers could search his car, Jefferson said yes.

Attempts by the Daily to obtain an incident report were denied by the ISU Police. Police officials said the report contains information that is not public. Officers’ investigative reports are exempted from public records under Iowa law.

When the officer first approached the group in the Southwest Athletic Complex, there appeared to be some sort of unusual activity, Deisinger said.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out [it] kind of looks like a drug deal,” he said.

There were at least six cars on the scene Friday. Deisinger said the number of cars wasn’t related to Jefferson being a public figure. Deisinger and another officer arrived at the scene to aid in the foot chase and stayed because a Daily reporter and a Daily photographer were present. Two squad cars pulled Jefferson over, and then another officer responded. Deisinger said if he had known other officers were responding, he would not have gone to the scene.

Deisinger said he did not know when he responded to the call that Jefferson was among those involved.

“I do not know at what point Mr. Jefferson was identified,” he said. “I did not know until I walked up and [someone] said, ‘That’s Marcus Jefferson. He’s a basketball player.’ I’m not into sports.”

An Ames Police car was also present. Deisinger said to his knowledge, ISU Police did not call for it. It’s possible, Deisinger said, that Ames Police heard him asking officers if they would like him to call for Ames Police; no call was made to Ames Police, he said.

Attempts to contact Jefferson by e-mail Friday were unsuccessful. He was also not available to reporters Sunday in Ames. Jefferson was unavailable to comment Monday because he was in New York City for ISU games in the National Invitational Tournament. Tom Kroeschell, associate athletics director for media relations, said Monday from New York City that he couldn’t presently comment on the situation.